


Distance

by kiyala



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: M/M, Post-GIRS Crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 15:42:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7112119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiyala/pseuds/kiyala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kai calls Aichi on his birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Distance

It's one minute to midnight when Kai picks his phone up from the table, dialling a number that he knows so well that he doesn't even need to look at the screen. He keeps his gaze fixed on the view outside his window, at the Parisian skyline, the lights beautiful to look at when he has his apartment in complete darkness. 

This is one of the good things about living on his own, he thinks, as he sets his phone down on the windowsill, putting it on speakerphone. Living with Gaillard for the first few months of coming to Europe meant that he had at least one familiar face while he oriented himself with the area. He's lived alone for most of his life, though, and it's nice to have his own space again.

He listens to the phone ringing, taking a sip from the strong coffee that he's grown accustomed to, after living with Gaillard. One ring, two rings, and then the third is suddenly interrupted and Kai stands a little straighter in anticipation.

"Hello?" Aichi answers. "Kai?"

"Aichi," he greets warmly. 

"It's late for you, isn't it?" Aichi asks over the phone. 

"It's midnight here," Kai replies. "Happy birthday, Aichi." 

He hears the soft huff of Aichi exhaling, and knows that he's smiling. "Thank you."

"How are you?" Kai asks, and what he means is _I miss you_ , but Aichi knows that. Aichi knows him well enough now to be able to read between the lines of what he says, to understand the meaning that's been there for so many years. 

"I'm good," Aichi replies. "I have a lot of assignments at the moment."

"Am I disturbing you?" Kai asks. "I can go—"

"No," Aichi interrupts quickly. He takes a breath. "Please. I don't mind at all." 

"You're in America for a reason," Kai says reluctantly, because it's something that he needs to remind himself often. He wishes he could call Aichi every single day, but he knows that it would only serve as a distraction, and the more difficult he makes it for Aichi to finish his university course, the longer he'll be gone. 

Kai has long since learned not to be selfish. His patience has been hard-won, but he knows that it's all going to be worth it in the end. 

"I could be over my head in assignments," Aichi tells him softly, "and I would still want to listen to your voice over the phone. But I'm not. It's just two that aren't due until the end of the week anyway. I have time. I can talk to you, Kai."

Kai exhales quietly, shutting his eyes together, his fingers splayed out against the windowsill, just beside his phone. If he imagines it hard enough, he can picture himself reaching for Aichi, across the distance. He can remember the warmth of Aichi's skin, the radiance of his smile. 

"Aichi," he breathes, leaning forward and pressing his forehead against the cold glass of the window. "I miss you." 

With a quiet sigh, Aichi hums. "I miss you too." 

"It's been too long since I've seen you," Kai murmurs. "Not since the GIRS Crisis, if that even counts."

"We've spoken on Skype since then," Aichi points out.

"It's not the same," Kai sighs. "It's been too long since we've existed in the same place, together."

Sometimes, the distance them between feels so vast that it's as if they're both existing on separate planes entirely. Kai's chest aches with the time that they've spent apart, and he knows that he's grown immensely since he graduated from high school and first left to Europe but sometimes, he'll think too hard about Aichi, and it's too easy to be thrown back to the times when he feared that they would never see each other again.

"I love you," he says, tracing the edge of his phone like it will bring him just a little closer to Aichi. It took him far too long to realise that, he thinks, and every time he puts it into words, it feels like he's putting everything into perspective. A world without Aichi isn't one worth having, and even if they can only contact each other like this for now, he knows that it's better than nothing. He's gotten too close to that far too many times for his liking already, and he'll do everything in his power to make sure it never happens again. "Aichi. I love you."

"I love you," Aichi replies, and Kai can hear the sadness in his voice, the longing. He wishes he could do something about it, but he knows that his own voice is thick with the same. "We'll see each other soon. I promise, Kai."

"When?" Kai asks. "I wish you hadn't surprised me by showing up at the finals for the last Euro League tournament. I look for your face in every crowd, now." 

Aichi laughs softly. "I'm sorry. But it was worth it, you know. The look on your face… I'll never forget it for the rest of my life. I don't think Gaillard or Neve have ever seen you smile that much before."

"They definitely haven't again," Kai adds. "They told me to say hello to you, and to wish you a happy birthday. Even though they'll end up calling you themselves."

"I'll thank them when I speak to them," Aichi replies. "Ratie says hi. She says—no, Ratie, wait—"

"Ratie says that you should come and visit your boyfriend more," Ratie speaks into the phone. "He never stops talking about you. You should at least come and play Vanguard with me!"

Kai smiles, listening to Aichi attempting to take his phone back. 

"Sorry," Aichi pants. "Just let me—give me a second."

Kai waits, and hears the click of a lock, before Aichi sighs against his phone. 

"She's energetic as ever," Kai remarks. "I'm glad she's there to keep you company."

"So am I," Aichi agrees. 

"She's right, you know," Kai murmurs. "I should visit more often. Perhaps after the next tournament. Will you have exams then?"

"You could come and visit anyway," Aichi says hopefully.

"I'll visit after your exams," Kai replies. "I can be overseas while the qualifiers for the next tournament take place. I'll already be seeded in the tournament."

Aichi sighs with frustration. "One day, we won't have to worry about this."

"Until then," Kai adds, "this is how we'll make it work. It _is_ working."

Kai wonders when he became the patient one, between the two of them. He wonders when they both grew up; he feels like it's happened without him even noticing. 

"Picture it, Kai," Aichi tells him, and Kai obediently shuts his eyes. "We're together. Neither of us have to go anywhere. We have all the time together in the world and we're home, wherever that happens to be. It doesn't matter. It just matters that I'm with you."

Kai imagines Aichi living in his apartment, imagines them sharing their lives. He imagines moving to America, staying in an apartment together there. He imagines them both going home to Japan, to where the rest of their friends are. 

Aichi's right; it doesn't matter where Kai imagines them at all. The important thing is that he's with Aichi. No matter what else happens, that doesn't change. It won't change.

"Yeah," Kai murmurs, and he realises that he's smiling. "I can picture it."


End file.
